#894: “It’s Not Just a Hurricane”: How A Cajun Teacher’s Fugitive Space Informs Her Climate Change Pedagogy

As climate change reshapes the Gulf of Mexico, teachers from coastal Louisiana are navigating what it means to teach climate change in science classrooms amid loss and uncertainty. This case study focuses on an elementary teacher from a Cajun community, a climate refugee from South Louisiana, who participated in a place-based climate change education project and co-taught fourth-grade lessons on climate-induced water issues. Using the lenses of fugitivity and teacher identity, we examine how she reflected on her relationship to place, community, and teaching after repeated hurricanes. Through interviews, observations, and dialogues, we unpack her pedagogical stance as an act of refusal, resisting deficit framings of her community and instead positioning lived experiences as sensemaking resources. Findings reveal how lived experiences informed her sense of self and desire to cultivate belonging and hope for students. This study highlights how fugitive, place-affirming pedagogies nurture resilience and contextualized science sensemaking.